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Fetus found in Lancaster County school, coroner says, teenager arrested

Associated Press

Updated:
05/02/2013 09:37:20 AM EDT

LANCASTER, Pa. — Police in central Pennsylvania say a 19-year-old faces charges and is being held on $1 million bail after giving birth in a bathroom at her high school and trying to flush the fetus down a toilet.

Lancaster police say Cherlie Lefleur gave birth in the bathroom at McCaskey East High School on Tuesday and discarded the male fetus into a trash can after first trying to flush it down the toilet. Investigators don't know if it was stillborn or born alive; an autopsy showed it was 27 to 29 weeks.

Lefleur is charged with concealing the death of a child. It wasn't immediately clear if she had an attorney.

A custodian found the fetus around 10 p.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday, detectives conducted interviews and reviewed video footage, identifying Lefleur as the mother.